The No. 15 Ohio State softball team extended its winning streak to nine games Wednesday night, defeating the Evansville Purple Aces 2-1.

The Buckeyes (33-6) faced a one run deficit to Evansville (10-26) on a rain-soaked Buckeye Field in the first inning but played catch-up to stir a win and keep the Purple Aces winless on the road.

Junior pitcher Megan Miller (4-0) started her first game since a seven inning shut out at N.C. State March 25. Miller has a 1.99 ERA for the season but was knocked out of Wednesday’s game after three innings. Senior captain Kim Reeder replaced Miller in the fourth inning.

Coach Linda Kalafatis put some wrinkles into the OSU lineup, and the Buckeyes were slow to come out of the gate.

Sophomore third baseman Rachel Shepherd started a rare game from behind the plate and there was some confusion between her and Miller over pitches. Kalafatis said the game was a learning experience for the players.

“These games give us a great opportunity to make those changes and hopefully those guys get better from the mistakes they made,” she said.

Evansville took advantage of two walks in the first inning by Miller and put the first run on the board. OSU responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of junior first baseman Tory Haddad, her 24th RBI this season.

In the third inning the Buckeyes scored two runs with the help of Evansville pitcher Jennifer McKee. The junior had a wild pitch that scored one run. Two errors by the Purple Aces resulted in a 3-1 Buckeye lead.

Evansville drew closer and made it 3-2 after Miller loaded the bases in the fourth inning. Freshman first baseman Kylie Wagner stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and was hit by a pitch from Kim Reeder, who had just entered the game in relief of Miller. In the bottom half of the inning, Wagner switched from first base to pitcher and gave up an RBI single to junior second baseman Whitney Cooper, making it 4-2.

In the sixth inning the Buckeyes stretched the lead to 6-2 on a pinch hit, two RBI double by junior right fielder Leah Ledford.

“Leah is having a really good year and that was a great opportunity with runners on base and she attacked it,” Kalafatis said.

Reeder pitched four shutout innings, struck out four and gave up only two hits. Reeder is now 17-3 with an ERA of 1.34.

The Buckeyes return to Big Ten play this weekend as they take on Wisconsin (12-30, 1-7 Big Ten).

Kalafatis knows it is going to be a tough trip for OSU.

“We certainly need to be careful not to let our effort reflect what their stats are,” she said.

Evan Winkofsky can be reached at [email protected].